By NATALIE GALLENTI
A THREE-year pilot project in Exford has helped train more than 60 refugees and given them the skills to gain employment within the horticulture industry.
Terefe Aborete, from CatholicCare’s Western Region Settlement Services, said the Green Patch Plus project offered refugees or those with a humanitarian background living in Melbourne’s West the chance to improve their skills in gardening, the English language, business management and financial literacy.
He said the project also helped develop their self-esteem, self-awareness, tolerance, communication and employability.
Mr Aborete said these are all important factors in social development and resettlement in a new country.
The participants, mainly from a Sudanese and Burmese background, studied a course in basic horticulture, permaculture and use of water-efficient garden systems, for designing and maintaining water-efficient organic vegetable and herb gardens.
“The skills they learnt have been further developed by working on land donated by a local resident in 2012. This has culminated with the planting of vegetables and herbs, spanning almost two acres,” Mr Aborete said.
He said the outcomes for program participants included assistance in setting up a social enterprise, encouraging them to set up their own business/market to sell fresh produce and gaining the knowledge to feed their families fresh and healthy produce.
Already eight of the project graduates have been employed in the industry, while three have formed a social enterprise in garden maintenance and are doing business in the Wyndham area and 30 of the participants are selling their produce to make extra income.
